


sunrise at 2 am

by earlgrey_milktea



Series: milktea's saso2017 fills [2]
Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Attempt at Humor, First Meetings, Gen, Veterinary Clinic, terrible goldfish care examples
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-07 03:16:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11050161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgrey_milktea/pseuds/earlgrey_milktea
Summary: abe's suffering at working the night shift in this tiny vet clinic is interrupted by a boy with a goldfish in a plastic bag and a smile to rival the sun.





	sunrise at 2 am

**Author's Note:**

> original prompt thread [here](http://sportsanime.dreamwidth.org/21522.html?thread=9703186#cmt9703186)  
> there's another fill for this prompt, too, check it out!!

Takaya yawns, rolling away from the desk as he stretches in his chair. He’s the only one left in this tiny office, which was to be expected because everyone else in their right minds would be in bed and dead to the world at this time of night. He still doesn’t understand why this clinic is open twenty four hours when nothing ever happens. And even if something  _ did  _ happen, it’s not like he’s licensed enough to actually  _ do  _ anything. What kind of a veterinary clinic leaves their intern to watch their graveyard shift? A sketchy one, duh.

Rolling back towards his computer, Takaya is just contemplating which playlist to blast when the tinkling of bells interrupts his thoughts. He freezes, watching as the front door slowly inches open, letting in the chilly night air. He thinks he can hear the theme song of that horror show Haruna likes to marathon at odd hours of the day. He really needs to move out of that apartment, fast.

“Uh,” Takaya says. “Hello?”

There’s a squeak, and then the door is swinging shut, and there, blinking under the bright lights of the small clinic, is a boy in a thin windbreaker, holding a plastic bag filled with water and... a tiny goldfish?

“H-H-H-Hi!” the boy squeaks again, stepping closer to the counter where Takaya sits. “Um, are you. You’re... open?”

“Yes,” Takaya says slowly. The boy can’t be more than seventeen, frizzy dirty-blond hair that looks more like a bird’s nest than anything, and large, rapidly-blinking eyes. He looks so nervous, Takaya has his hands raised in the way he uses to placate panicked animals before he even realizes it. “How can I help you?”

“I, um, my—” The boy babbles, holding up the plastic bag. “She’s! She just, tonight, after I came back from—baseball! But she didn’t, she isn’t, she’s...” Wide hazel eyes peer at Takaya imploringly, willing him to understand. 

“You want me to look at your goldfish?”

Frantic nodding. The plastic bag with the frighteningly still goldfish is passed over the counter.

Takaya looks at the bag in his hand, then back at the boy. The amount of hope in his expression sends a painful twinge down Takaya’s chest. He sighs. “Uh, why don’t you... take a seat. I’ll take a look at it real quick.”

The boy beams at him, and it’s Takaya’s turn to blink really fast. Unfair, he thinks. No one should be allowed to possess a smile that’s ninety-nine percent sunshine like that. So unfair.

The goldfish isn’t dead. It’s very close though. Takaya isn’t qualified enough or awake enough for this. He grabs a small bowl off the back shelf, rinses it and fills it with clean water. There’s a tiny bottle of fish food because one of the vets keeps a permanent tank in her office, so Takaya sprinkles a bit into the water. The fish flutters a bit in the bowl. 

He breathes out a sigh of relief. Not really sure why, but Takaya really does not want to disappoint that kid waiting out there all by himself. Where are his parents? How can they let this flighty kid run down the streets at two in the morning just for a goldfish? Granted, Takaya’s only a few years older than the kid but still. It must be way past his bedtime. And if he was out all day at baseball practice, he should be dead on his feet by now. 

Coming back to the front room, Takaya presents the bowl to the boy. “Here,” he says. “She’s going to be fine. You need to change her tank regularly, okay? Do you have decorations in her tank? Goldfish know they’re prey so they need places to hide, you know?” 

He stops talking when he realizes the boy isn’t really listening. He’s staring at the goldfish with watery eyes, and then he’s directing that stare back at Takaya. It’s startling, and more than a little captivating.

Takaya really needs to stop being roped into marathoning stupid dramas with Haruna. 

“Th-Thank you!” The boy bows, nearly bonking his head on the counter.

Shifting the bowl away from the edge, Takaya says, “It’s no problem. Look, I’ll print you a page of instructions, okay? Then you’ll go home and put her back in the tank and get some sleep, alright?”

“B-B-But!”

Takaya frowns. The boy’s mouth flaps uselessly, and it takes much more effort and concentration than Takaya can give at this hour. He tries anyway. “A fee? Don’t worry about it. I’m not going to charge you for that.”

“R-Really?”

“Yeah.” Takaya waves a hand. “Just pay me back by getting home safely.”

The boy nods, quite a few times. He takes the bowl and the goldfish with careful fingers. Takaya thinks about those fingers wrapped around a baseball, and wonders why. It’s not like he’ll ever step back on a field ever again. And it’s not like he knows what position the kid plays! Goddamn, he needs to convince his boss to let him haul a coffee machine in here. Clearly, his delirious thoughts are affecting his work—

“I, I’m!” The kid has turned back, and those hazel eyes are once again trapping Takaya’s gaze. “I’m Ren! Mihashi Ren!” He pauses, watching Takaya expectantly.

“Oh.” Takaya blinks. “I’m, uh, Abe Takaya. Nice to meet you?”

“Yes!” Mihashi chirps. “Goodnight, Abe-san!”

“Goodnight.”

Mihashi gives him one last smile, and then Takaya is left starting dazedly at the door, wondering when the sun started to come out in the middle of the night.

 

**Author's Note:**

> find me @puddingcatbae on tumblr or twitter


End file.
